P.R. Laws tit. 34, § 750
As provided below, the sum of forty dollars ($40) shall be paid for each unjustified motion or petition for stay of the trial of a contentious case in the Court of First Instance filed, orally or in writing, by the defendant or his/her attorney.
Likewise, the sum of twenty dollars ($20) shall be paid for each motion or petition for stay of any other judicial proceeding, matter or process in the Court of First Instance filed, orally or in writing by the defendant or his/her attorney.
It is hereby provided that the fees for stay of proceedings shall also apply to petitions for stay filed orally with the court. In the case of an oral petition, the court shall ensure strict compliance with the provisions herein provided and order the payment of said fee as soon as possible.
This fee shall be paid by the defendant’s attorney when the written petition for stay lacks the signature of his/her client, or when such consent does not arise from the oral petition through the affirmation of the counsel. Should the defendant consent to it, he/she and not his/her counsel, shall be liable for the payment of the corresponding fee. Except as hereinafter provided, every petition for stay shall bear the corresponding special stay of proceedings stamp or attesting evidence of the payment of such fees at the Court Clerk Office if other payment methods are adopted. The payment of the fee for the stay of proceedings shall be automatic and shall not affect the authority of the court to deny or grant the stay sought if it is in order, to begin a proceeding of contempt, or to impose other penalties on the parties or their attorneys.
As an exception, the courts may exempt from the payment of the filing fee for stay of proceedings herein provided, when, jointly with a duly grounded petition for stay, the petitioner shows attesting evidence that his/her petition for stay is due to a conflict in schedule caused by the Court for summoning the petitioner in his/her absence. When a party or its attorney files a petition for exemption from the payment of the fee for stay of proceedings, under this exception, it shall not enclose the special stamp corresponding to the fee for stay of proceedings, nor pay it by other means to be adopted in the future, until the court resolves such petition and orders otherwise, if it so determine. If the Court does not grant the petition for exemption from the payment of the fee for stay of proceedings provided herein, because the circumstances therefor did not concur, the Court shall order the attorney or party filing such petition for stay to pay the corresponding fees at the Court Clerk Office within a term it deems appropriate.
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies and other instrumentalities, institutions and other natural or juridical persons at present exempted from the payment of the costs and fees prescribed by law shall continue to be exempted from payment of the fee for stay of proceedings herein provided.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall design a special stay of proceedings stamp and sell it according to the regulations in effect regarding internal revenue stamps or any other regulations that he/she may adopt to such effect. Likewise, it may establish the payment of the fee for stay of proceedings provided herein electronically, in coordination with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall use the amounts collected on account fees for the stay of proceedings to defray the expenses and fees of attorneys appointed by the court. Likewise, any surplus shall be appropriated to the Department of Justice so that, according to the existing needs, it may hire institutions to render free legal services to persons with limited financial resources.
History —Code Crim. Proc., 1935, § 271; Aug. 8, 1974, No. 8, Part 2, p. 607; Jan. 5, 2000, No. 20, § 1; July 30, 2009, No. 47, § 16, eff. July 1, 2010.